Bird meditation is one of the most grounding meditation practices for me. On most days, I wake to silence long before the sun rises and sit with the sound of my own breath coming and going, reflecting the changing nature of all things. In winter, the first sounds are those of the stop and go […]
Practicing gratitude can support us in cultivating positive emotional and mental states and nurturing our sense of wellbeing. By simply staying here, we relax more and more into the open dimension of our being. –Pema Chodron The brain has a negativity bias, which means that it focuses more attention on what is wrong than on […]
When we are living in the moment with mindfulness, we meet whatever is here with kindness and curiosity. Yesterday I drove by a row of trees with brilliant orange-yellow leaves at the corner of Market and 15th. I’ve driven by them a number of times during the past week, and each time, I think, “I […]
We can increase willpower with meditation practice. Two of the most powerful things that you can do to create change in your world are to get clear about your intentions and practice meditation. If you can change your mind, you can change your life. –William James Research shows that people who meditate have increased grey […]
When you own your voice, you find the freedom to trust your intuition and follow it without abandoning yourself. You begin to say and do what youfeel is in the interest of your own well-being, others’ well-being, and the well-being of the Earth without allowing our fear of others’ judgment, hostility, or rejection to silence […]
What’s going well in your life? Our brain has a negativity bias, so it tends to focus more time and attention on what is perceives as going wrong than it does on what it perceives as going right. Inclining our mind toward the positive can help us to feel a greater sense of peace, happiness, […]
Sometimes in order to see the light we must become willing to sit with the darkness. Turning away from what we judge as too painful only creates more suffering. That from which we turn away longs for our tender embrace, acceptance, and compassion. Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present […]
Nurturing a healthy mind can promote peace, happiness, and wellbeing. We can encourage a healthy mind by cultivating positive mental and emotional states, practicing meditation, and practicing loving-kindness and compassion toward ourselves and others. To keep the body in good health is a duty… otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong […]
Longing can become one of our most painful unconscious habits. In longing, we want something to be other than it is, we want someone to be other than they are, we want to be close to someone who doesn’t want to be close to us, we want a material object, a particular food, or a […]
Developing embodied presence means that we are living in the present moment and maintaining awareness of what is happening in the body, heart, and mind. We are aware of sensations, feelings, and thoughts that arise moment to moment. The great challenge in our busy world is to stay connected with ourselves— with our bodily felt […]